Tolerance cannot be measured in terms of degrees of intolerance. I am essentially opposed to burning books even when they incite others to violence. But freedom is either an absolute or it is conditioned on not inciting others to violence. Anything else is rationalized bigotry.

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Operation Pillar of Defence - A Prelude

There has been lots of anti-Israel propaganda from Israel’s enemies (and many uninformed bystanders
to the conflict) about what are euphemistically labelled as ‘provocations’ by
Hamas and the other militant groups operating out of Gaza.
I have an analogy that I would like to share with you to counteract that
line of thought:

Gazan activity against Israel may be compared to a thug
throwing stones at your house: If a thug
threw 5 stones at your windows every day, are 5 stones too few for us to make a
fuss about them? At what point would you involve the police, and if they failed
to act, the local council? When would you become fed up with being ignored by
your government institutions? In the
same vein, let me ask, what if they were not stones but bullets from a bb gun?
Ok then, when does nuisance become threat? What defines deadly threat and what
is a proportional response? This is important. From the outset, the reaction
to the ‘occasional’ daily missile (or 10) launched at Israel has been far more subdued than what we
should expect of rational human beings.

In the UK
people have committed suicide because of police inactivity over bullying by
thugs who just threw stones over an
extended period of time. The events have made national news. This is
important.... being teased/bullied until you can't take it any more is
something that we should all understand. But it appears that the world is
largely indifferent when the discussion concerns Israel and three and a half million
Israeli’s living under constant threat of missile bombardment for almost 12
years.

The most immoral part of this whole warped debate occurs
when we discuss proportionality and compare body counts. We should not have to
apologise for the fact that Israel
builds residential areas in such a way that the populace has where to run if
necessary, such as stairwells, and yes.... bomb-shelters. As of 10 years ago, each building no matter
how big or small was/is obligated by law, to include a reinforced room. In Southern Israel every person must have access to
protective shelter within a 15 second running radius of the sounding of Code
Red sirens. Those sirens warn the
populace of incoming missiles, not rocks.

Israel has blessedly placed the protection of its people before
its enemies. Its missile technology has protected the nation from hundreds if
not thousands of casualties and that the casualty count is less than equal is
something of which the State should be proud.
And its advanced missiles, which can be directed to the bull’s-eye, are
minimising collateral damage to Gaza’s
civilian population.